Love of my Brothers: Revised
by celestial kitten16
Summary: After team 7's run in with the Sand Trio, Naruto goes home expecting an empty apartment to welcome him back. Except it's not so empty, but has four guys waiting inside of it claiming to be Naruto's brothers. And if they really are his family then where have they been all this time? So many secrets, and Naruto also has one of his own. He is a she! And what about her mother? FemNaru
1. Chapter 1

_**It's back you guys. It was suggested that I upload the revised version as a second fic so that at least my readers can have something. Eventually when i catch up to the original I'll just switch out the old chapters with the new. It just feels like such a waste to start new after so many people reviewed and favortied the original. But I wont delete it either, that way it can still be enjoyed until I catch up with this one. So here it is after what probably feels like twenty years in the making, the first revised chapter of Love of My Brothers.  
**_

_**Enjoy.**_

* * *

After Team 7's tiring mission, their confrontation with the gennin's from Suna, and finding out about the chunnin exams, Naruto was exhausted.

That morning the weather had been clear and sunny, giving false hope that the day would be as good as the weather. Sadly Naruto had ended up been disappointed. He had it all planned out: go on the mission, finally show up Sasuke, and get Kakashi-sensei to acknowledge his skills. But instead the day had turned out to be a disaster and it was about to get worse as dark clouds rolled across the sky, bringing with them the rumble of thunder and the dangerous flashes of lightning.

_'I wonder why Kakashi-sensei didn't tell us about the chunnin exams today?' _Naruto wondered, unaware of the foul weather looming overhead. _'Maybe he just didn't know about it...or maybe he doesn't think we're ready.' _a darker voice whispered in the back of her mind. The thought had Naruto stopping in his tracks.

_'No! We are ready...I'm ready. Kakashi-sensei probably just couldn't find the right time to tell us is all, I'm sure he'll tell us tomorrow.' _he convinces himself with ease before continuing to walk home.

Turning the corner down a small alley-a shortcut to his apartment that he used to avoid the crowded main streets-Naruto looked around to see if the coast was clear. When he saw that no one was around and believed it to be safe, he popped off the tube attached to the swirl on the right shoulder of his jacket. Opening the top he tipped it over his palm until two small pills dropped into his hand, one pink and one blue . He checked one more time to see if anyone was around to see before quickly tossing the pink pill into his mouth. The moment he swallowed Naruto was encased in a white puff of smoke, the same that would appear if he were dissolving a jutsu.

When the smoke cleared there was no longer an eleven year old boy, but an even shorter eleven year old girl. She had the same blond hair as Naruto, but hers fell flatter against her head rather than sticking straight up at all angles though it still had a certain messy quality to it. Her eyes were the same blue, but were now framed with long feminine lashes. She was near identical to the boy who once stood there, with her whisker birthmarks that blemished her cheeks.

The fact was that the girl was the one and the same Naruto Uzumaki. The pills that were inside the tube had been specially developed henge pills made to hide her identity. The blue would transform her into a male version of herself without the use of her own chakra or hand seals, allowing her to stay in that form for long extended periods of time by using less of her own chakra, where as the pink pill reversed the effects and turned her back to her real gender. Only a handful knew of her real gender, and a few more who found out by accident.

For the first few years of her life up untill the finishing of the henge pill, she was cared for by the Hokage and a few very trusted shinobi. When she was around four the pills were introduced into her diet so that her body could adjust to the immense change . For years she continued to take the pills without question until finally the Hokage could no longer take care of her and taken the liberty of acquiring her own apartment where she would be taken care of by the landlord until she was thought old enough to manage on her own.

One day she finally asked the Sandaime why she had to take the pills. He had answered that bad things could happen to little girls all alone without parents, that there were people who might want to hurt her and she would be safer from them if they thought she was boy. Her innocent logic was to reply that she would never be alone because she had him. The old man only gave her a sad smile before giving a supply of the pills to her landlord and once more explaining to her how important it was for her to take them and hide her true identity.

When she entered the academy she asked again why she needed to continue to take them if she was going to learn how to defend herself against people who wanted to hurt her. The Sandaime had told her that even though she was learning to fight, she was just beginning, and that wouldn't be enough to protect herself. When she graduated the Academy, she asked again. His answer was she still wasn't strong enough, that to protect herself sometimes she had to hide and keep secrets, and that one day he would tell her the real secret behind why she had to pretend. But she was getting tired of pretending.

It wasn't easy faking being a boy.

Sure, she was a huge tomboy, but that didn't mean she _liked _girls and it was really awkward pretending everyday to have a crush on Sakura to help keep her cover as a boy. She liked the other girl as a friend and teammate, and it would be great if the two could spend more time together, but that was as far as her affections went.

Sometimes-most of the time-she just wanted to be herself. She wanted to stop taking her pills everyday, she wanted to be honest with her teammates, she wanted to be free and feel safe to walk the streets as the real her without shame or fear. Was that so much to ask for? She decided in that moment that she would go to the Sandaime tomorrow and tell him she wanted to stop taking her henge pills and let her team know about her real gender. They deserved that much from her.

As she came to this decision it started to rain, and hard. The heavy downpour quickly soaked through her clothes, drenching her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes as she ran down the narrow alley's towards her apartment building. By the time she got under the shelter of the building she was freezing cold and wet to the bone. When she finally arrived to her apartment, she was shivering so hard that she could barely get her house key into the lock.

"Finally!" she said after awhile of trying to get her key into the lock and finally succeeding. Her voice was softer and of a more higher pitch then when she was under the effects of her henge pills, and wasn't as grating. With a relieved sigh, she twisted the key in the lock, turned the knob of her door and pulled it open.

The warmth of the room welcomed her, but what was strange about that was that she remembered she had turned the heater off before she left that morning so she could save money, so how could the room be warm? Not only was her room heated, her entire apartment was sparkling clean. The sight wasn't as surprising to her as it should be. Often the Land lords daughter Kaya or Iruka would sometimes stop by when she wasn't home and tidy up for her since she spent most of her energy on training and missions, that when she got home she never had the time or strength to clean. But they tended to do it while she was out, so she never had anyone waiting to say "Welcome home." when she got back. But sometimes, when the Land lords daughter would visit her father she would invite her over to eat dinner with them, which was always nice and the food was delicious (though it had nothing on Ichiraku's ramen). But it wasn't the cleanliness of her home that had her on guard, it was the four pairs of shoes in her doorway. Whoever had cleaned her apartment was still in it, and it certainly wasn't Iruka or Kaya.

Reaching to her leg, she eased out a kunai from the case on her thigh and poised it out in front of her. Tiptoeing into her own home she was quiet on her feet. Looking in the bathroom, she saw it had also been cleaned, sparkling and scrubbed down to a shine. Stepping out she stared at the door of her training room, it was the only other place where the intruders could hide.

Stealing her nerves, she reached for the handle of the door with her kunai pointed out in front of herself. Her fingers were inches from the door knob when it was swung open from the inside, four teenage boys squeezing out of it and coming tackling towards her. Naruto, as startled as she was, was still a ninja and moved fast to jump back and out of the way to land on her bed.

"Who the hell are you? Why are you in my apartment?" she shouted, her kunai still pointed at them as she bent her knee's readying herself for an attack.

"We told you that we shouldn't have hidden," two of the boys, identical twins shouted at the blond of their group. The two had short, spiky crimson hair and they had the same violet eyes that the other two boys had.

"Shut up, your ruining the moment." The blond, who's hair was longer, and slicker was parted to the side, half of it falling over one side of his face and partially covering his eye. He glared at the twins before turning to her with a giant grin and a look in his eye that made Naruto extremely uncomfortable.

"We were starting to worry how late you would be out," he told her, stepping forward. Still thinking them all a threat she jabbed the kunai forward at him.

"Stay away from me." she warned him, not backing down. "How did you get into my apartment, I locked both the window and door before I left?"

"We picked the lock and then locked it again from the inside," one of the twins explained, holding up the tool kit they used to enter.

"Why did you break into my apartment?" Naruto asked, unable to think of anything of value in her apartment that anyone would want to steal.

"We had planned to wait for you in the hall, but it became rather drafty once the rain started so we thought we would wait inside for you instead," the blond explained, his violet eyes glassy as if he was about to cry as he looked her over.

The way he stared at her was as if she was some lost treasure that he had been searching a lifetime for and had at last found, like something precious and loved. No one had ever looked at her like that before, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Why were you waiting for me, what do you want with me?" she asked, her hands still as she held the kunai.

'_Do they know about the Kyuubi?'_ She wondered if that was why they were there. If they planned to kidnap her for the Kyuubi's power

"It's a long story, what matters is that we're here" he breathed, taking another step towards her, his hands held up for her to see as he stared down the point of the kunai. She realized then that the color of his hair was the same shade of yellow as hers.

"That might be the case, but I think we have time. So try starting with telling me your names, and what village your from first." Naruto suggested, eying them from head to toe in search for their forehead protectors which would have their village symbol on it.

The tallest of them wore his forehead protector around his head, the fabric of it a sea green. On the steel plate was carved a single swirl. The twins wore theirs around their necks, and the blonde one seemed to have his as a belt.

The blond smiled, almost sadly before speaking.

"We're from Uzushiogakure," he told her, smiling. The twins grinned, and the tallest stood straight and stoic.

"That village was destroyed in the second shinobi war, they told us so in the academy, it's in our history books." she glared jabbing the kunai at him. "Your lying, and I don't like lie's."

"We rebuilt it. Created a new village someplace else in secret." he explained to her quickly, taking a step back from her.

"Who are you? Why did you come here?" she switched to her next question, deciding to get the details of Uzushio later.

"I'm Aki Uzumaki, these are my brothers Miki, Niki" he motioned to the twins. "and Taka." this time he turned and pointed to the fourth member of their group, an extremely tall young man with the same violet eyes and red hair as the twins, his hair was identical to the style that the late Yondaime Hokage had. He could almost be mistaken for the man, if not for the narrowness of his eyes where as the Yondaime had a more almond shape to his eyes like Aki's were.

"U-Uzumaki?" Naruto was extremely confused and she felt the panic of the situation finally begin to set in. It was impossible for them to be Uzumaki's. She was the only one. She had no family, no parents or siblings, no clan.

"Yes. We're family, in fact we're your brothers." he explained, his eyes glistening with the tears that threatened to fall. Naruto's breathing quickened as she looked at all their faces, trying to find the resemblance. The twins who's eyes had a similar shape as hers, Aki who's hair was the same shade as her own, And Taka...well she couldn't find a resemblance between them, she wasn't nearly as tall and he had a much more pointed face then hers but their was something in his steady gaze that she recognized.

She wanted to believe, but she had no hard proof that they were telling the truth. They could just be trying to trick her and she didnt want to be the naive little girl desperate for love that believed them so easily.

"Your lying. I don't have siblings, I'm an orphan." she muttered, the rain water in her hair dripping onto her face and down over her eyes and cheeks, making it look as if she were crying.

"What can we do to prove that we're not lying to you?" Aki begged her and Naruto had to think for a moment, and then she thought of something that might verify what they were saying, something she had always wanted to know.

"If you really are my brothers, then who are my parents. Did they die, or did you just leave me because you didn't want me?" the boys all looked at her with devastation and shock. After a second they all turned to each other, a silent conversation happening between them, which was something that annoyed Naruto incredibly.

"Hey! I asked you a question, if you can't answer it then your lying about being my brothers!" she snapped, tired and annoyed and just wanting to sleep.

"They never told you?" the twins asked in unison, their brows furrowed and heads tilted in confusion.

"I assume they thought that it would be safer if she didn't know, they did it to protect her." the tallest one, Taka, spoke in a deep monotone, his expression just as stoic as before.

"Or maybe it's just because their liars!" Aki turned to him and shouted. The sense of hatred and bitterness that he gave off that startled Naruto..

"Aki, do you not remember that the council wished for our own connection with father to be a secret so we wouldn't be targeted by his enemies? It's why we were given mothers surname instead of fathers." the taller of the two asked, looking down his nose at his brother quite literally do to his height.

"And mother fought them on it. She didn't believe that we should have to treat our own father as a stranger!" the tension was increasing as Aki's temper flew.

"But Naruto didn't have mother or father to protect her. She was alone. If the world knew of her, they would come after her, and no one would be able to protect her like mother protected us as children." he told Aki, as if the fact wasn't obvious enough.

"What the hell are you guys talking about!?" Aki and Taka looked at her, while the twins were a bit preoccupied playing with some of the toy/stuffed frogs she had all over her room. "Are you going to answer my question are not? Don't ignore me!"

"We're sorry," Taka, and brief flicker of sincerity showing in his eyes was genuine and spoke the words he didnt need to utter aloud. That what she thought was familiar about him, the way his eye spoke for him when necessary, the same way hers did when she was too mad even she could think of what to say.

"We—we were told you were dead, it's why we never came back. We were told that you had died, with dad, and mom kind of lost it and left the village with us." Aki began to explain, his head down as he stared at his toes. "We never once looked back...until we started to hear rumors, of a blond haired boy who saved the Land of Waves from a man named Gato and had a bridge named after them; The Great Naruto bridge."

"At first when we heard the rumors of the boy who save Nami no Kuni we didn't even think it could be you because you're a girl, but when we heard your name we started to wonder, if maybe there was a chance it was you." he told her, looking up and into her eyes. "And then a month ago, our Village was at last discovered and we received a message from the Hokage that was delivered to the Uzukage and our family, inviting our village to participate in the chunnin exams along with another message about you."

"I don't understand what your talking about. More importantly you still haven answered my question." she said, shaking her head as she continued to glare at them suspiciously.

"The Council of Konoha _lied_ to us, they told us you had _died_ along with our father. That when he attempted to seal the Kyuubi in you, it not only took his own life but your body wasn't able to handle such great power and you died, taking the Kyuubi with you. Mom was devastated." he told her, pain clear in his voice and expression as he recalled the past.

"You know about the Kyuubi?" Naruto whispered scared, taking a step back. Maybe they really were here for the Kyuubi. The group of brothers nodded without a trace of scorn or disgust, they didn't hate her, they didn't fear her or what was inside of her. Naruto didn't know how to handle that type of reaction.

"Wait, you said my—our—father sealed the Kyuubi in me? But that would mean that the Yondaime-" her face fell into shock as she realized exactly what she was being told.

"NO! YOUR LYING!" she shouted, horrified by the truth she had just learned.

"That would mean the Yondaime Hokage is my father. That can't be true, because I will not believe that my own father would do something as horrible as seal a monster inside of his own daughter. Why would he do something so cruel?!" she couldn't handle this, she wouldn't accept this. They were lying, they just wanted the Kyuubi, they wanted to hurt her.

"We're not lying!" Aki moved closer to her, dodging at she trusted the kunai at him with the intention to pierce him.

"YES YOU ARE!" she screamed, tears welling in her eyes.

"What type of father would seal a monster in their own kid? And why would the Council tell you that? Your lying!" her head was spinning, and she felt dizzy as she tried to keep up with what they were saying to her, unable to let herself believe any of it.

"Because they wanted to use you as a way to get to the Kyuubi, to make you into a weapon and they knew that our mother would never allow such a thing to happen. So they lied to us, to get what they wanted!" Aki's violet eyes were wild with rage and desperation, pleading to her to believe them until she could no longer look into his eyes.

"But they didn't get what they wanted." Naruto told them, looking at the kunai in her hand and wondering if that was true. If one day she may turn out to be just like Zabuza or Haku, nothing more than a tool to be used by her village.

She quickly shook her head, of course that would never happen. She wouldn't let it.

"That's because those who were loyal to our parents and knew the truth stopped them. But it was too late for us, no one knew the truth until after we were already gone." he explained with relief. "Mom barely had a day to heal after you were born when they told us that you were dead, she couldnt handle losing both of you so we left the village immediately. For almost a year, our mother didn't even smile once after loosing you and dad. It broke her."

"She—She loved me?" Naruto asked in a small, almost surprised sounding voice.

"Of course she does. The only reason she's not here right now is because she didn't want to come back and take the chance that what we were told was nothing more than another lie, a trap. So instead we volunteered to come and see in her stead." Aki explained, slowly bringing his hand up and towards her, pushing her arm back down to her side so the kunai was no longer pointing at him.

"Our mother and father tried so long and hard to have a baby girl. Why do you think you have so many older brothers? It's because they refused to give up trying until they had a daughter. Finally they had you. And before you were even born you were loved by_ all_ of us...and more." she wasn't sure what he meant by more. She was loved more in general, or she was loved by more people then just them? She was still trying to get her head around the fact she was loved at all. It was such a strange and impossible concept to her even though the Sandaime told her when ever she asked that her parents had loved her. Now she was question his motives, and why he hadn't told her that she had brothers.

"I—I don't believe you." she finally said in a small trembling voice, jerking her arm back and free of Aki's touch. "Leave! Get out of my apartment and don't ever come back!"

She screamed at them, pinching her eyes shut as she tried not to cry from this sick and cruel joke. She had been through a lot of tortures things growing up, but this; giving her hope for the impossible, was by far the worst of them all.

"Please, Naruto-"

"GET OUT!" she screamed, her voice growing higher as she reached behind her and took a few shuriken out before throwing them at the four. "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!" she continued to scream and threw as many deadly weapons as she could until she was all out and the four were huddled near the door and she was picking up one of her potted plants to throw at them next.

"We'll go, but we'll leave this as proof that we're not lying. It's a photo, taken the very minute after you were born. Maybe if you look at it you'll believe us. You can ask the Hokage where to find us." with that said, Aki and Taka were pushed out the door by the twins, just in time as they shut it they could hear the crash of the pot hitting the other side.

Alone, Naruto dropped onto her bed, not caring she was still in her wet clothes and curled in on herself, soft sobs wracking her body as she cried. She couldn't believe what had just happened, what she had been told. She could only think that they were liars, that they came here to trick her. It was just to good for it to be true, to really have a mother and brothers who were alive and wanted her.

"It's all just a dream." she muttered to herself. "Just a dream, and when I wake up it'll be like this never happened." She muttered again, her eyes heavy before finally giving into the exhaustion and letting her teary eyes close and slumber to take her into it's dark pits.

**TBCNC**

**(To be continued next chapter)**

* * *

_**I had a real hard time deciding the best way to write Naruto's reaction. I want her to be realistic and also true to Kishimoto's character who's character has captured all of hearts while trying my best to also make her my own and give her more depth. I didn't want Naruto to just believe them straight off the bat. It's not like the Road to Ninja where he already knows who his parents are so he's more willing to accept and be happy that their alive and he's with them. But Naruto in this never knew about her brothers or her parents, so their just strangers to her. And how do you react when strangers break into your house? your freak out and go on the defensive to protect yourself.**_

_**She wants to believe them, she wants to be happy, but she's scared of being hurt, she scared to believe that their a chance she doesn't have to be alone anymore when an empty house is all she's ever known. I just hope that I can do her justice, that her reaction was believable and plausible.**_

_**Also tell me what you think about the idea of the henge pills. I thought it was an awesome idea, not perfect but I thought it was cool and an easier way to explain how Naruto would able to hold a genjutsu for so long that others couldn't dissolve themselves.**_

_**I cant wait for your reviews. **_

_**Love you guys, sorry for making you wait so long.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**First I would like to start by saying thank you everyone who have reviewed and Favorited/followed this story after only the first chapter of it's revision. I get email alerts connected to this account, and I don't mean to brag, but my phone has been vibrating and binging nonstop with email alerts from being favorited/followed and reviewed. It was awesome, and made my day a better one. And because you guys are so awesome I thought I would try to get the second chapter posted as soon as possible for you guys.**

* * *

When Naruto woke up she was still in her wet clothes from the night before, but though they weren't as soaked as they had been but they were still damp and every little bit of fabric clung to her skin uncomfortably, making her skin irritated and itchy.

Getting out of bed she made a bee line for her bathroom in hopes of peeling her jumpsuit off and warming off under the hot spray of the shower. Dragging her feet she shut the door behind her and turned on the sink which was attached to the shower head. There was a stutter and clang before the water began to pour out. She started to take off her clothes, draining them in the sink by hand before hanging them up on the wall. It was still early so when she was done with her shower she would go up on the roof and hang them up on the line to air dry.

After checking she had clean towels ready, she then tested the temperature of the water by putting her hand under the spray. Satisfied with the temperature it was running, she stepped into the shower and under the running water. she sighed, shivering at first before her entire body relaxed. Sliding her fingers through her hair first, she ran the tips of her nails along her scalp, trying to scrape the dirt from her roots. When she was done she gave a yawn, still tired and scrubbed at her face until she felt fully awake before continuing the process of the rest of her shower.

When she was finished she reached out of the shower and turned off the water before shaking out her hair and stepping out, wrapping a towel around herself.

Humming, she left her bathroom to change into a pair of fresh clothes to wear until her usual outfit was dried. Once she was out of the bathroom and actually looked around did she realize how much last night wasn't a dream. There were kunai and shuriken stuck in the walls, and in the door way was a pile of dirt, leaves and shattered shards from the potted plant she had tossed at the heads of her so called brothers on their way out of her apartment.

"_Kuso!_ It wasn't a dream." she muttered, going to her dresser and taking out a pair of cotton green shorts and a gray tank top. Tossing them on her bed she realized she would also need to dry her bedding that had gotten wet because she hadn't changed into dry clothes last night before she went to sleep. Groaning she ruffled her own damp hair and started to change. Afterward when she had clothes on she pulled off her sheets and blanket from her bed and threw her wet clothes from the night before in the middle. Folding the blanket over, she bundled it all up in her arms and made her way out the window, focusing her chakra to her feet, she walked up the side of her apartment building and to the roof.

Dropping the bundle of wet cloth at her feet, she tilted her head up to the sky and let the early morning sun soak into her skin and the warm breeze dry her hair. After it rained the weather was always beautiful and sunny the next day, as if promising that today was a better day and that there was always tomorrow. But that was too cheesy for even Naruto to believe, though she did hope that the day would be as good as the weather and didn't turn out with an ending like yesterdays. Stretching her arms up above her head Naruto grinned at the clouds, her fingers out stretched as if in the hope that she could touch the clouds themselves.

Naruto went to the roof often, and not just to dry her laundry, but to clear her head after training. It was the best place to watch the clouds and to hide out when she didn't want to be found. Sometimes a stray cat or two would wander up and keep her company. It was a place where she could focus entirely on the sky, the shape of the clouds and the feel of the wind against her skin. For a little while it gave her an escape from reality and the harsh world she lived in.

With the slight wind in the air, and the morning sun rising higher in to the sky her clothes and sheets should dry in no time. Humming an upbeat tune, Naruto practically danced as she pinned the laundry to the string that was hung across the roof. She wasnt the only one who came up here to do laundry after all, but most residents proffered the coin operated machines downstairs.

It felt as if a weight was taken off her shoulders when she wasn't under the genjutsu of her pills. When she could just be a girl and let her hair down. She wasn't a girly girl, like Ino or Sakura, but she was still a girl and it was nice acting like one from time to time. She wondered breifly what it would have been like if it had been safe for her to be who she was, if she had been put in kunoichi lessons, or if she could have gone to the festivals and wore the pretty yukata's and kimono's that mothers picked out for their daughters. Who boys have thought she was pretty. Sometimes it was both nice and depressing to of the 'what if's'. But soon, maybe she would get the chance to find out what it would be like when she talked to the Sandaime.

As she pinned the other end of the sheet to the string with a clip she caught site of the Hokage mountain in the distance. The faces old and worn, but still strong, their open eyes watching over the village.

_'There's no way the Yondaime could be my dad, those guys were nothing but a bunch of liars.' _Naruto thought as she looked at the stone face, trying to find resemblance. They both had spiky yellow hair, and the same color blue eyes, but a lot of people had blue eyes and blonde hair.

Just not the same shade that they shared, a voice whispered in the back of her mind.

She used to spend hours a day staring at the monument, promising to the faces that she would surpass them all, that she would be greater, stronger and make them all proud the day she was named Hokage. But now, looking at the face of the Yondaime she felt awkward. She had become so familiar with that face, it's details, yet it felt like she was looking at it for the first time. The face now felt imposing and odd. As if this entire time those eyes were always on her, watching her, witnessing every achievement and every screw up she ever made. She wanted to hide from those eyes but at the same time she just couldn't stop staring back.

The Yondaime Hokage had always been someone she wished to surpass. He was a legend, yet Naruto was only now realizing how much he was truly a mystery to her. There was so much that none of them knew about the Hokage's or their families. The books at the Academy focused on the ninja they were and not the _men_ that they were. They described battles they fought and won, but never the one's they faced in their day to day lives at home. They had turned them into iconic hero's to worship, these untouchable gods, forgetting that they all were human and with faults, families, and friends.

With so much unknown, maybe it wasn't completely impossible that the Yondaime was her father. But even if that was true, could she forgive him for sealing the Kyuubi inside of her? She wasn't sure. She felt like she wasn't sure of anything anymore. But more importantly, she just felt angry and bitter, feeling she had fought for years to suppress after letting them get the better of her once before and not liking what it turned her into.

Now that her laundry was all hung, all that was left was to wait for it to dry. Stretching her arms up above her head she finally looked away from the Hokage Monument. When her stomach gave a loud rumbling growl, Naruto remembered then that she had yet to have any breakfast. So taking the same way that she had come up, Naruto returned to her apartment to fix herself something to eat. When she got inside she was once more struck by the cleanliness of her apartment, another piece of proof that the night before wasn't a dream. Walking over to her fridge, she grabbed the bread from on top of it and then opened the fridge itself to get the butter and milk. The butter seemed fresh enough, but when she shook the milk she heard the terrible chunky sound it made as it swished around. It looked like she would have to go shopping.

Settling that morning for a glass of water and toast, Naruto hoped it would be enough until to hold her down until she could go grocery shopping. Maybe if she was lucky she might run into Iruka-sensei and convince him to buy her ramen at Ichiraku. After she was done with her small meal, she went to put her dishes in the sink when she spotted the photo that Aki had left behind. The photo was face down so she couldn't see the picture, making her curious. She started to reach for it but stopped.

If she looked at the photo she would finally be getting the answers she always wanted, what Aki said would be confirmed.

Naruto was scared. She was scared that maybe she didn't want it to be true, that everything would change, and she wasn't sure if it would be for better or worse. She was even tempted to throw the photo away without looking at it, just forget about it. But if she did that then there was a chance that she would never know the truth about who she was.

She picked up the photo.

Taking a deep breath she turned the piece of paper around.

A woman, with long red hair the same shade as the twins and Taka, laid on some sort of bed. She had a sheen of sweat across her forehead and her face was turned to the side to look at the baby that was laying beside her head, it's mouth open wide in a cry and it's whiskered cheeks flushed. The eyes were closed with tears in the corners, but she was sure if they had been open they would be the same blue, the exact same shade as her own. On top of the babies head was a tuft of yellow blond hair the same shade as Naruto's and Aki's.

At the head of the bed, as close as they could get were four children who appeared to infact be a much younger Aki and Taka, each holding one of the twins who stared with curiosity at the baby as they drooled all over their older brothers. Leaning at the knee's on the opposite side of the baby, was a man with tears in his eyes, one hand cupping the top of the tiny infants soft was the Yondaime Hokage.

The baby was her. The red haired woman was her mother, and the Yondaime really was her father. She had a family. She looked at the faces of the children in the picture closely, scrutinizing and familiarizing herself with the similarities between their faces then and now. It really was them. They really were her brothers, Aki had been telling the truth.

Naruto felt her knee's go weak, and she quickly grabbed the edge of the counter to hold herself up as her legs threatened to give out beneath her. She felt like she couldn't breath and her eyes quickly began to glisten with tears that she simply could not contain. She was overwhelmed with her discovery and the emotions that it brought forth. It was like she was drowning in happiness and in sorrow, swallowing her in a deep gray whirlpool that sucked her down and stole her oxygen as it pulled her deeper and deeper into it's depths.

She looked at the photo again, using the tip of her finger to trace the image of her mother who was smiling at the baby with such joy that the woman had tears in her eyes. Her mother was beautiful, even crying she just had this glow of life to her. Her hair a brilliant crimson was so long in poured over the side of the bed. Now, Naruto knew at last that the mother she had been dreaming about all her life was still alive, still wanted her and loved her.

She looked at the excited faces of her older brothers in the picture, their violet eyes wide and bright as they stared at the newborn that was her. Their faces were much rounder, especially the twins. With their red hair they looked like little tomatoe's. They were actually kind of cute. Aki's hair was shorter, and not so much in his face as it was now. And Taka, well Taka looked almost the same but shorter, and even then he was still taller than Aki.

Then there was her father, the man who sealed the Kyuubi inside of her, who had condemned her to a miserable life. He looked so happy in the photo, even happier than her mother. His own tears were thick, leaving trails down his cheeks and over his lips as he grinned. The genuined love and pride in his eyes was obvious to anyone who saw the picture.

But if he really did love her as much as it seemed he did in the photo, then why do something so awful to her? Naruto just couldn't understand it. But for the moment she just wanted to forget about it, just wanted to focus on the pure adoration in her fathers eyes as he looked at her in the picture.

Family.

This was her family, and four of them had come for her so that they could be with her.

They actually wanted her, and right now they were waiting for her.

Standing up, she wiped her eyes and came to the decision that after her sheets and clothes dried she would go to the Hokage, to ask about her brothers and what he knew. Time didn't seem to go by quick enough though, and it felt as if it was taking forever for her clothes to dry. In order to try and distract herself Naruto focused on training, going into her training room and turning the pages of her books to study new jutsu while she lifted some weights and balanced three books atop of her head all at the same time. Naruto had excelled at multitasking and the room allowed her total concentration, windowless and sound proof.

After an hour of training Naruto had started to sweat and the room began to turn hot and suffocating, though it was nothing compared to the usual time she spent within the room honing her mind and body. Opening her eyes and taking a deep breath she looked at the small clock on the wall and figured that her laundry should be dry by now. Leaving everything where it was she exited the small training room and climbed out her bedroom window, once more scaling the side of the building up to the roof. When she got to the top she saw a few of the stray cats that frequented were sun bathing. She smiled at them but didn't dare to disturb them, they were usually friendly but they could be viscous if you bothered them rather than letting them approach you first, she had learned the hard way.

Touching the hung fabric she grinned when she felt that it was dry, even slightly warm. Taking it off the string she folded the sheet before taking down her clothes. With her clothes done, Naruto was all set to return back to her apartment to change and go see the Hokage when one of the cats jumped on her shoulder, so quick and light she barely realized until she felt the full weight of the small animal curl around her neck, it's whiskers tickling her own.

"You have really bad timing, I actually have something important to do today so I don't really have much time to play with you." she told the calico ball of fur, tilting her head to nuzzle the cat between her cheek and shoulder, smiling when it began to purr.

"I really am sorry, but I gotta go and I'm kind of in a hurry. So unless you want to come with me to the Hokage Office, you gotta get off?" she asked. The cat looked at her with big green eyes, unblinking for almost a minute before it decided to hop off her shoulder and join the other cats again. Naruto was just thankful it didn't get any fur on her freshly dried clothes.

When she got back inside her apartment she didn't bother remaking her bed, she simply placed her sheets atop of it and changed her clothes. After she tied her headband around her head, she took one of the blue pills from the tube, once more engulfing her in smoke and when it dissolved she was once more under the guise of her male alias. Pulling on her shoes, she shut and locked her window before following suit with her door as she left her apartment.

As she ran in the all familiar direction of the Hokage tower, Naruto's mind ran wild with questions she wanted to ask, about the things she might finally get the answers to. Not all the questions were about her family, but also about Whirlpool Country. In the pocket of her pants she had tucked away the photograph that Aki had left her, but even without it she had quickly burned the image into her mind. It was one she would never forget, something that when everything started to turn dark inside of she could hold on to. And at the moment, it was her only proof, proof that she did have a family.

She would have to apologize to the boys for not believing them, but she was also sure that she was justified in being so defensive and distrusting. She hasn't exactly had the easiest childhood or was surrounded my a ton of caring people. All her life the world has looked at her with hatred and disgust, and she had never known _why,_ and that made things harder. When you cant understand something so big, you get confused and scared and that's all she felt for such a long time. She was just really good at hiding it most of the time behind her pranks, and grins. Nobody knew how hard or how lonely it was.

All she wanted now was to be able to be herself, to know the truth and walk down the streets proud to be who she was and unafraid for a change. And perhaps she would have her brothers by her side on that walk. She wanted to believe that she would be accepted by people and that those she cared about would understand why she had kept her gender a secret and not hate her for it. The same way she tried to find strength not to hate the Sandaime for keeping such a huge secret about her family from her. It wasn't easy that was for sure

He could have at least told her she had brothers, she thought with bitterness. If he had maybe she would have reacted differently when she first met them.

All she wanted now was to live a life where she didn't have to pretend or hide, to have a family, and now all of that was so close to becoming a reality for her that she could almost touch it. The thought of it was enough to make her feel like she was floating as she ran faster and faster towards the Hokage Tower. If she actually paid attention, she would have noticed that she really was floating. Her feet barely touched the top of the building as she ran and jumped across them, literally gliding on air, as if the wind itself was beneath her feet carrying her.

Sooner than Naruto thought it would take, she had arrived in front of the Hokage Office. As always the front entrance was unguarded, it was once you were inside that the security tightened. Stepping inside she was welcomed to the familiar sight of the reception office. Naruto didn't even bother checking in with the receptionist as she ran straight past the front desk and up the stairs, ignoring the receptionist protests. Her biggest obstacle came when she got to the Hokage's office where Raidō Namiashi was standing guard outside the door.

"I need to see_ Jiji_, it's important." she told him, standing firm and stubborn before him. He just looked at her coolly, barely batting an eye as he stared unimpressed down his nose at her.

"Move!" she stomped her foot when her refused to step aside.

"Let Naruto in, Raidō." the old mans voice said from the other side of the door. Raido didn't argue and stepped to the side, even opening the door for Naruto.

"I've been expecting you, in fact I thought you would have been here much earlier. What kept you?" Hiruzen asked. Folding his hands beneath his chin, smiling gently around his pipe.

"Laundry." she shrugged, walking further into the office until she heard the soft click of the door shutting behind her.

"Please, have a seat, Naruto-_chan._" he continued to smile, nodding towards the chair placed in front of his desk. It must be knew because Naruto had never seen it before on her many visits. "I'm sure you have many questions for me."

Naruto pulled out the photo and placed in on the desk between them before taking a seat across from him. She watched at the man she considered a grandfather take the photo from where she placed it and sigh sadly as he looked at that image.

"You don't know this, but my wife was there when this picture was taken. She delivered your brothers, as she delivered you. She died that day, with you in her arms I was told. But that's another story." he said, and she could see his old and wise eyes grow misty from the memory.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't-" she tried to apologize, suddenly feeling guilty.

"Of course you didn't know, that's why I told you. And to make it clear, it wasn't your fault she died." The Hokage told her, placing the photograph back down.

"Why didn't you ever mention that I had brothers?" she jumped right into it.

"I thought if you knew about them, knew that you not only lost your parents but your brothers too, that it would only triple your pain. I didn't want you to live with that grief." he explained, taking his pipe from between his lips.

"But my mother survived, so did my brothers and you didn't tell me! I didn't have to grow up alone, I could have had a family!" Naruto shouted, gripping the arms of the chair.

"I didn't know they had even left. In fact for awhile I had been under the impression they were dead." he told her.

"I was there when your father sealed the Kyuubi in you, I watched him die saving our village and giving his life so that yours could last more than a few hours. Yours brothers were no where in sight and your mother was fatally injured, weakened from giving birth and near death when she was finally brought to the hospital. the medics didn't think she would survive the morning. I focused on getting you to a safe and secure place, leaving you with the Hokage's elite bodyguards while others searched for your brothers and I tried to calm everything down after the attack." he explained to her, his eyes a storm of whirling emotions.

"I was so preoccupied with being reinstated as Hokage after your father died and helping with the organization and reconstruction of the village that days had passed before I finally had the chance to check on your mother and brothers. By that time the council had told her you were dead and she left, meanwhile they lied to me as well, saying that your brothers were never found after the Kyuubi attack and that your mother died in the hospital. They even went ahead in burning the body of a shinobi who had died and telling me they had already cremated her. I had no reason at the time to believe they were lying to me." in his chest lay a heavy and guilty heart, feeling a fool for so long for not investigating further.

"Then when did you find out they were lying, how did you know my mother and brothers were still alive?" said Naruto, leaning forward in her seat wringing her hands and trying to restrain herself from jumping up and smashing something.

"It seemed that the council wasn't able to silence everyone who knew the truth about your mother and brothers. There was one person, who had seen her make her escape with your brothers from the village but at the time was unable to stop her." he explained, his aged face stoic, yet all his emotions could be heard in his voice and the look in his eyes. He was disappointed in himself, he felt guilty,

"When word begin to spread that the Yondaime's family had all died, that person came to me to confirm this as they had seen her leave the village and what she was told did not match up with her own information." he explained slowly, watching Naruto's face carefully for her reactions.

The old Hokage suddenly felt sad, wishing that instead of this false mask Naruto had to wear he could look at her true face more often. To truly be able to watch her blossom into a beautiful young woman, one who's beauty would one day rival that of her own mothers. It was also not fair to Naruto, to rob her of her gender and therefor a different way of life and living. She should get to be herself, but in order to protect her he had taken away a part of her identity.

"But why would the council go so far, what were they getting out of lying to you and my mom?" Naruto's false face contorted with the emotions she was feeling, her blond brow furrowing and her baby blue eyes narrowing in both frustration and confusion.

"You. They would have gotten _you_, if they had succeeded. The man who was behind the conspiracy would have gone to any lengths to get his hands on you." he told her, folding his hands, his face turning dark and grim, going to such a level that Naruto got chills.

"It was a risky move to tell a lie about your death to your mother, because they couldn't predict what she would do. There were a number of ways she could possibly have reacted to such devastating news, but all they needed was for her believe that you were dead." he continued on. "But they all seemed willing to take the risk, just so they could get their hands on you."

"They had lied to my mother, they got what they wanted: she believed them. But what stopped them from taking me? What did they even want with me" Hiruzen could see the fear that she so desperately tried to hide, her imagination most likely running wild in her head, conjuring up terrible scenarios.

"The Kyuubi of course. They had hoped, that if they could get their hands on you, they could train you, make you into our greatest weapon. If they could control you, they would also be able to control the power of the Kyuubi." the mere thought of the beast inside her made all of Naruto's insides go cold. She liked to pretend she wasn't what she was, that she didn't have a monster inside of her, and that the responsibility of making sure it didn't escape and go on a rampage was on her shoulders. It was a lot for a twelve year old to handle.

"I never wanted this." she told him, her eyes downcast, staring at her hands that she held palms up in her lap.

"Of course you didn't-"

"Then why did my dad do this to me? Why did he choose me? Didn't he know what it would be like for me? How hard and lonely-"

"Your father didn't seal the Kyuubi in you just because it was _convenient_! You were his daughter, his _only_ daughter, and he loved you so much even before you took your first breath." he slammed his fist down on the table, startling Naruto.

"Do you imagine it was _easy_ for him to do what he did? To seal a monster into his own beloved child?!" the Hokage very rarely raised his voice, except when she was causing trouble for the rest of the village when her pranks crossed a line. And even afterword, when he scolded her he always remained calm and composed, so to see him become so upxet, to hear him raise his voice like he was, made Naruto shrink in her seat a little. Sometimes she forgot that there was good reason why he was Hokage.

"Do you know how much trust he needed to give you, the immense faith he had to have in you to hold such monstrous power? He had to believe with all his heart in you, to know for a fact that you could do this. If he had any doubt in his heart you weren't capable of such strength he would never have made such a sacrifice, he would have tried to find another way." he spoke not only as a Hokage, not only from what he knew of Minato personally, but also what he knew of being a father and the love a parent had for their child.

"Your father rarely talked of nothing else other than his children. He was a devoted husband and father, always finding a way to make time for his family. He had everything a man could dream of, love, family, respect, the devotion of his people and the strength to not only lead them but to protect them." Hizuren voice softened as he spoke of the deceased man. "His reign was a tragically short one, but in that time he accomplished so muc, and gained the love and trust of his people. Though he was far from perfect, he did his very best everyday, much like yourself, Naruto."

"Your father had four sons, but as much as he loved them and your mother, he always said their was something missing in his life; A daughter." Hiruzen gave a small and meaningful smile. "Once his dream of becoming Hokage had come true, he had to find a new dream. He dreamed of a family. He achieved that dream as well, and then after your brothers were born he had to once again find a new dream. That dream was to have a daughter, you were his new dream, Naruto."

"Your birth completed his life and that is why, I am sure, he had no hesitation in giving up his life for that of his family and his village. You were his very last dream, and what a wondrous dream you are." Naruto felt shy under the proud gaze the Hokage was giving her, his smile widening around his pipe as he stood, coming around his desk, stopping only to stand in front of her.

"You are the daughter of the fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze and that makes you a _princess_ of Konohagakure. It is a shame that in order to protect you that you could not know your own identity, but you know now. Though you can not flaunt it, nor should you, you can at least take some pride from knowing of who you are and who your parents are." he placed a thin but strong hand on her shoulder, his fingers long and the pack of his hands marked with scars of battles he had fought.

"You are a jewel, you just have to allow yourself to be polished and shined is all. Let your brothers in, learn more about who you are, and where your family comes from. It is a rich and _noble _history." he smiled knowingly, a twinkle in his eye. "I am positive you will not regret it. Allow yourself to be loved, my girl, you deserve to be after so much hurt and loneliness."

There was a moment of silence as Naruto contemplated her choice, staring at her hands with such intensity Hiruzen was sure that she might set them afire with her gaze. After another few seconds she turned her gaze to him, but her eyes has lost their intensity, instead allowing them to convey her vulnerability.

"Where are my brother, now?"

Hiruzen smiled.

**TBCNC**

* * *

**So what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Did it make you cry? Just kidding.  
**

**Was Naruto in character do you think, I feel like I'm struggling with that a bit when it comes to how she reacts over serious things. **

**I'm looking forward to more reviews, in the meantime I'll be working on finishing up the third chapter and getting it to you guys as soon as possible. Thanks for the love and support.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So I did send this chapter to someone who was interested in being my Beta and it's been awhile since I heard from them. So I figured it was about time to just post it for the sake of those of you waiting for an update.**

**Also to answer a question and concern: Yes, this is still Shikanaru. **

**Also if their are more mistakes in this chapter than usual it's because I worked a long day at my job, I'm hungry and tired and my focus is not that great at the moment. I'm yawning just writing this authors note. So when I'm in better condition I'll bring it up again and look it over for mistakes and re-post it again.**

* * *

Naruto followed the directions the Hokage had written down for her. She had explored a good amount of the village through her childhood, but never had she ever found this corner of the Village, tucked away and hidden by a strong genjutsu from anyone in search of it. It can only be passed or dispelled by someone with Uzumaki blood, otherwise the genjutsu was nearly impossible to cancel out. Or at least that's what the Old Man had told her. But he had also said now that her brothers were in the village if the genjutsu would still be up around the Uzumaki compound.

Apparently it was.

Currently, Naruto was standing in front of an empty field, a stream running far in the back, she could see the water sparkling in the sun and the sound of the water lapping at the rocks and stone. It seemed so real, like she could walk right through the tall grass to the stream and drink from it. Looking down at the peace of paper in her hand, it confirmed that she was in the right place. She had followed the directions to the 'T' to get there. The last instructions on the list told her that all she had to do was walk towards the river, and because she was an Uzumaki the genjutsu would no longer effect her as she past a certain unmarked point and would allow her entrance into the compound.

Naruto tucked the paper into her pocket and began to walk.

Just as she starts to wonder how long she would have to walk she blinks and suddenly there is no more field and she's standing in front of a large pair of double doors connected to stone pillars on either side, carved with swirls down their entire length. Those pillars continued out into a wall that she was sure went around the entire compound. She could see the peaks of tiled roof's of buildings over the top of the wall. She tried to listen, to see if she could hear her brothers inside on the other side of the wall. It was strange to even say the word brothers and think of them connected to her, that they were _her brothers. _But the only sounds she heard were birds singing in the tree's or the whistle of the wind. '_Maybe they aren't home_.' She thought almost hopefully, feeling her heart pound nervously in her chest.

Naruto would never call herself a coward, but the idea of facing her brothers again had her terrified. She wasn't sure how they would react to her showing up, especially after she had screamed at them and treated them so terribly when they first met. But in her defense she didn't think they could really blame her for being defensive and wary of them on their first meeting, especially when she didn't know about them.

What if they realized coming here to find her was a mistake? What if they didn't want her anymore? What if-

One of the large doors opened, and it took everything Naruto had in her to keep her feet planted where they were and not runaway as fast as she could back to her apartment. Instead she held her breath and locked her knee's straight, her hands trembling at her sides.

"You came!" she didn't have any time to register the face of the person who opened the door as she was pulled into a pair of warm arms, soft yellow hair tickling her cheeks as her face was pressed in to the curve where shoulder met neck of the other person.

"I'm so glad you came, we've been waiting for you." then she felt it, the warm wetness of tears on her shoulders as fingers ran through the back of her hair and another arm held her almost suffocatingly tight. The only person who had ever held her like this had been Iruka-sensei, and as much as she loved him, it was nothing like being held within the arms of your own flesh and blood and the radiating warmth of love that could be felt through her brothers skin. It took her breath away.

Heart pounding in her chest she finally removed her hands from her sides to claw her fingers into the back of his shirt, holding on with life or death desperation as she tried to soak in as much love as she possibly could.

"_Aniki_?" her voice sounded as small as she felt in his arms.

"That's right, I'm you're _Aniki _and you're my_ Imouto_; My precious baby sister." he whispered into her hair through a sob, pressing a kiss on top of her head before pulling back to look at her face.

"You don't have to pretend or hide with us, you can take the henge off. I want to see_ you._" he tells her, smoothing her hair back for her face, his eyes gentle and smile wide.

Taking the capsule from her shoulder, she took one of the pink pills and popped it in her mouth, swallowing. Immediately the henge was dispelled and with an excited squeal from her brother was pulled back into his arms.

"I just cant get over how cute you are! I have the prettiest and most adorable little sister in the entire world! I cant wait to go shopping with you, your going to look even cuter in all the dresses I pick out for you." Naruto paled at the word 'cute' and 'adorable' but most of all 'dresses'. She was not a frilly dress wearing girl and never would be, it just wasn't her and her brother was going to get a rude awakening when he found that out.

"Aki, you jerk you should have come and gotten us if Naru-chan was here?" looking over Aki's shoulders she saw the twins pouting in the entrance, looking none to pleased that they had been left out. Rushing over to them, four more arms joined to wrap around her.

"Welcome home, lil sis." they said in unison and squeezing both Naruto and Aki tight in their arms. And then their was one more pair of arms, bigger and stronger than her other brothers that seemed to fit effortlessly around them all. Taka. Compared to all the arms wrapped around her in that moment, his arms had to radiate the most heat.

"Your finally where you belong, Naru-chan, with us." Aki spoke into her hair, and she didn't have to see his face to know that he was smiling, she was also pretty sure that the twins were grinning ear to ear also.

"I'm sorry I threw stuff at you, and yelled at you, and can called you liars." Naruto said as she started to sob, feeling guilty about how she reacted the night before.

"Shh, it's ok, we're not mad. We understand, so please don't cry." she was soothed by her eldest brothers voice as he stroked her hair while the Twins rubbed her back and Taka patted the crown of her head almost awkwardly.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed there but her legs were starting to go numb from standing still in one spot for too long, and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. But she also couldn't seem to will her self to move away from her brothers either, the feeling of them wrapped around her foreign but at the same time it was familiar and wanted. She had only ever been hugged a very few times in her life, and that consisted of only Iruka-sensei and the Sandaime. It sucked that when she had finally gotten comfortable with the physical contact she had become too uncomfortable in the position she was standing in for it to last any longer.

"I hate to ruin the moment but my legs are going numb." she mumbled into the arms holding her, squirming a little and hissing as she felt the taunt pull of her muscles, especially in her shoulders and neck.

Taka was the first to let go and stand back, and then the twins. Aki on the other hand seemed to be having a hard time understanding her words since he was still holding onto her tightly, as if he let her go she would vanish into thin air.

"Please, just a little longer." he asked her, and Naruto despite her discomfort couldn't bring herself to push him away.

"Ok, just a little longer." she told him, wrapping her arms around his waste.

When he finally did let go, there were trails of dried tears running down his face and his nose was running a little. His still misty eyes were bright and inviting with so many emotions swirling in them that she was sure it would take the entire day to name them all. And all of them were positive. She hadn't even realized she was crying herself until he wiped a stray tear from under her eye, not giving it a chance to fall further then it already had.

"Welcome home, _Imouto_." he smiled before guiding her inside the gates, their brothers following close behind.

And it was true, the moment she stepped inside the Uzumaki compound everything seemed brighter, the air smelled of salt water, which was strangely comforting since she had never been to the ocean before. The salt water scent came from a large saltwater pond that stretched out in front of the entrance to the main building, it was wide enough that a small bridge was built so you could cross over. The water was crystal clear, so you could see all of the colorful fish swimming through the coral reefs and other small oceanic plants that were part of the fishes ecosystem. It was incredible, like looking in to another world. On either side of the bridge was a pure white stone pagoda, two more were placed identically on the other side of the pond as well. Orange tree's lined the walls that protected the compound, tree's that naturally did not grow in Konoha. They were beautiful, their fruit wasn't blossoming just yet, but the beautiful little white flowers were just starting to bud. The grass was tall, almost to her knees.

"Sorry if the place is a mess, we've only just started cleaning it but it's a pretty big house. Nobody's really been taking care of it since mom left with us, but that could be blamed on the fact nobody could get in but us." one of the twins standing at her shoulder told her. Naruto tried to remember which twin was which.

It didn't help that they wore pretty much the same outfit: a hooded kimono top with a sash around the waist and shorts, with bandages wrapped around their hands and forearms. The only difference was the color, one twins top was red and had short sleeves, with a blue sash and blue other wore a blue top without sleeves, a red sash and red shorts. On the front of the top on the right side was a patch of a red swirl with a ring around it and four arrows pointing inward. Just like the night before they wore their forehead protectors around their necks.

Now if she could only find out which one was which, she could try to remember who was who by the color of their shirts.

"You can ask. We won't be mad." the twin on her left asked, the one wearing blue.

"Ask what?" Naruto was confused as to what exactly they were talking about.

"Your thoughts are written all over your face, _Imouto_." the one to her right wearing red grinned.

"Not even mom can tell us apart, the only one who can is grandma. So you can ask us which one of us is which if your not sure." the twin on her left said with a grin identical to his twins.

"Wait a minute. I have a grandmother?!" any thoughts about which twin was Miki and which one was Nikki flew right out of her head and far away as another thought took it's place.

"Of course, how else do you think our mom was born?" the two said with a twitching tremble of their shoulders, as if a chill had run up their spine caused my the thought of their mothers conception.

"Then what about my grandfather?" Naruto asked, getting excited. But that excitement drained from her when she saw the sad expressions that came over the twins faces.

"He was assassinated just before me and Nikki were born." he then got a very thoughtful look in his eyes. "Actually none of us got to meet our grandparents or the rest of our family until mom took us away."

"Why?" she asked confused, tilting her head just a little, a piece of yellow hair falling over the metal of her forehead protector and into her eyes. She didn't care enough to brush the hair back. In front of them Aki stopped at the door of the large house, but didn't turn to face them, only looking over at his shoulder at them with a sad smile.

"Because everyone was in hiding after the war that destroyed the first Uzushiogakure. Mother and her siblings were separated and sent to live with relatives and trusted allies throughout the countries until it was safe enough for them to be together again...to say the least, it wasn't safe for a very long time." he explained to her before turning back to the door and opening it. The rusty hinges made an awful screech as the door opened and Naruto fought the urge to cover her ears until it stopped.

"Sorry about that. The genjutsu did great to hide and shield this place, but it did nothing in preserving the house and grounds all these years. We still have a lot of work to do to get the place back in shape." Aki said with a wince. "But that shouldn't be long with the four of us sharing the work."

He smiled cheerfully before continuing into the large estate. The twins and Taka followed him inside without a word, but Naruto hesitated in the entry way.

"Did you live here?" she asked them, touching the frame of the door.

"No, but mom used to. She lived here with some of our distant cousins for a long time when she was a kid." one of the twins told her.

"How old were you when you left?" she asked them.

"We were only babies ourselves, we're only a few years older than you so we we're toddlers when mom took us. Taka and Aki probably remember more, they're the eldest. Most of what we know is from what mom told us." they shrugged nonchalantly,

"How old are you now?" she asked, looking to each of her brothers.

"We're fourteen!" the Twins said in unison with matching grins.

"Sixteen." Taka answered in his deep monotone voice. He sure didn't sound or look like he was only sixteen. The twins seemed to be able to read her thoughts.

"Mom says Taka takes after our grandfather. He's been really tall since he was little, so he's never looked his age." they explained.

Naruto eyed her silent brother with curiosity. He was wearing a sea green flak jacket from his village, which meant he was either a chunnin or jounin. The front of it was layered wit thick plates that overlapped like the shingles of a roof and was stitched together by thick leather chord on each side. The jacket had thick straps rather than sleeves with a blue swirl on the front of each one, and an even larger one on the back. The village symbol for Uzushio. Underneath his flak jacket he wore a green sleevless shirt, and around his neck he wore a piece of rope like a necklace. His pants were a dark gray.

Taka's expression as always was stoic and impassive, but there was a warmth behind his eyes. He stood as tall as a tree, probably even taller than Kakashi-sensei, and was still as a rock. It was hard to even tell that he was breathing. She wondered if that came in handy when he was on missions.

Their was a twitch of his brow, and spark in his eyes suddenly when he looked down at her that made Naruto smile for some odd reason. Maybe it was because though his expression did say much, his eyes gave him away to what he was truly feeling and what Naruto saw was an immense joy.

"And what about you, Aki?" she turned to her most eccentric of brothers, who seemed to light up now that her attention was fully on him. He was practically giddy.

He wore a pale yellow shirt, with sleeves that stopped just a few inches past his elbows, with a reddish brown vest that had three pockets, one breast pocket on the right and two normal pockets with the same symbol that the twins had on their clothes on the left breast of the vest in replace of a forth pocket. Lastly he wore dark brown pants that stopped a few inches short of his ankles, and black standard ninja sandals. Like the day before his forehead protector was tied around his waist like a fashionable belt.

"I'm seventeen, making me the eldest and your loving older brother." the twins both stuck their fingers in their mouths, sticking their tongues out and pretended to gag.

"More like a mother hen than an older brother," one of them said with a scoff. It was the one in the red shirt. Naruto had a feeling this one was Miki, she wasn't sure how, maybe it was the slight difference in attitude between him and his twin but she was almost sure it was Miki. Nikki laughed beside his brother. The more they laughed and smiled, the more she could picture the family resemblance between them and herself.

"Is something wrong?" Taka asked, noticing that she hadn't moved from the doorway.

"No, I was just thinking how weird it is to see strangers with the same smile as me." she mused, looking at the twins who seemed not to have heard her as they poked Aki, purposely trying to make him mad."You guys really are my brothers."

"Yes, and with time maybe you will no longer see us as strangers." said Taka with the tiniest of smiles and a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"It's still so _weird. _I've always dreamed of what my mom and dad might have been like, but never once did I imagine having siblings. This is going to take me awhile to get used to that's for sure." she told him, scratching at her head and feeling awkward as she shifted her weight from foot to foot.

"Would it help if I told you we're just as nervous as you are?" Naruto blinked in surprise, her blue eyes big and round reflecting his image in them.

"Y-You are?" she asked, having a hard time believing that after their first few meetings.

"Mmhm." he nodded.

"You didn't seem very nervous when we first met." she pointed out.

"It maybe have seemed that way, but we were. We were scared you wouldn't like us, that you would be angry we weren't there for you and hate us. We're still nervous." he told her.

"About what?" she asked, tilting her head and feeling extremely confused. What else could they possibly be nervous about.

"That you'll get to know us, and wont like us."he answered.

Naruto grinned.

"Good, because I'm nervous about the same thing." with that said, she took a brave step inside.

_NCCS_

* * *

**NEXT CHAPTER WE WILL GET A LOOK AT KUSHINA AND UZUGAKURE.**


End file.
